Summary: The Council was not at fault for the delay in providing the support detailed in Ms X’s Care Act assessment. The Council has made efforts to provide the support and suggested several ways to move forward. It has also offered to carry out a reassessment and has explained to Ms X what information it needs to deliver the support detailed in the assessment.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains that there has been a delay in providing the support described in her Care Act Assessment and that there has been a lack of response from her allocated social worker.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and s34H(1), as amended)

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What I have and have not investigated

3. After my investigation began, Ms X raised further concerns about more recent events, including a complaint about children’s services and data protection issues. As Ms X has not yet raised the issues formally with the Council and given it the opportunity to resolve them, I have not investigated these matters. I consider them to be premature complaints.
4. Ms X also raised concerns that were already addressed by the Ombudsman in a previous decision and I will not investigate these matters again.

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered evidence provided by Ms X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
6. Ms X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

Law, guidance and policy

Assessment

7. Sections 9 and 10 of the Care Act 2014 require councils to carry out an assessment for any adult with an appearance of need for care and support. They must provide an assessment to everyone regardless of their finances or whether the council thinks the person has eligible needs. The assessment must be of the adult’s needs and how they impact on their wellbeing and the results they want to achieve.

Care Plan

8. The Care Act 2014 gives councils a legal responsibility to provide a care and support plan (or a support plan for a carer). The support plan must include a personal budget, which is the money the council has worked out it will cost to arrange the necessary care and support for that person.

Oxfordshire County Council Policy for Contributions in Adult Social Care

9. Each person will be assessed on their own finances to calculate their assessed contribution towards the cost of the care they receive. It is the individual’s responsibility to provide all of the information required to complete the financial assessment.
10. If a person refuses to disclose their financial details, they will be required to pay the full cost of the service. In such cases it will pursue any debt accrued.

What happened

11. In early August 2025, Ms X received a copy of her Care Act assessment and an invitation from her social worker to meet to discuss next steps. The social worker asked Ms X when it would be a convenient time to meet.
12. Ms X met with the Council towards the end of August 2025. Following this meeting, the Financial Assessments Team wrote to Ms X explaining the financial assessment process. They said that, to avoid being charged the full cost of care and support, she needed to complete the financial assessment form promptly.
13. A further meeting with Ms X took place at the end of August 2025 to discuss her support options. During this meeting she expressed concerns about the financial assessment process. She was also contacted by someone from the Direct Payments Team.
14. In early September 2025, the Direct Payments Team contacted Ms X again. Ms X said she did not want to discuss the matter at that time as she was dealing with issues relating to her son’s direct payment.
15. A further support planning meeting was arranged for early September 2025, but Ms X did not attend.
16. During September 2025, the Council made multiple attempts to contact Ms X to progress support planning and complete the financial assessment. At another meeting, Ms X expressed frustration at being asked to provide six months’ bank statements, stating that she felt it was an invasion of her privacy.
17. In October 2025, Ms X contacted the Council and requested contact from her social worker, but the social worker did not respond.
18. In November 2025, a team manager emailed Ms X to offer support again with completing the financial assessment and support planning. Ms X replied that the Care Act assessment no longer reflected her needs and that she wanted a reassessment before discussing her finances.
19. Following this, the social worker contacted Ms X to offer another meeting to carry out a reassessment. The Financial Assessments Team and the Direct Payments Team also continued to contact Ms X with offers of support, including a home visit.
20. At the end of November 2025, during the assessment process, Ms X told a social worker and the team manager she was not comfortable engaging further as she had concerns about a lack of confidentiality.
21. After the meeting, the team manager sent Ms X a copy of the previous assessment and the minutes of the meeting, as requested.

My findings

22. After sending Ms X a copy of her Care Act assessment, the Council made a number of attempts to contact her. These contacts were not always from the allocated social worker but also from other Council teams involved in progressing support planning.
23. The Council told Ms X that, if she did not complete a financial assessment, she could be charged the full cost of her care and support. However, the Council did not charge her, and instead made continued efforts to support and encourage Ms X to complete the financial assessment.
24. I appreciate that Ms X had reservations about completing the financial assessment and about the information she was asked to provide. But the Council took account of the relevant guidance, information from Ms X and its own policies. It also followed the appropriate procedures when dealing with Ms X’s case. I do not find that it was at fault.

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Decision

25. I find no fault. The Council has proposed to carry out a reassessment of Ms X’s needs and has actively tried to complete the support planning.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman